The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) was riding the Modi wave and thus, could cash in votes from National Capital Territory in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. The Union Territory of Delhi consists of seven Lok Sabha seats. The BJP managed to sweep all the seats from here in 2014. But it seems that it is not going to be a cake’s walk for the saffron party this time.
Certainly, Arvind Kejriwal is the biggest challenge that the BJP is facing today in Delhi. Kejriwal had erected the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from the ashes of the Anna Movement. From there, AAP went on to sweep the Delhi Assembly Elections in 2015. At a time when Modi seemed invincible, AAP inflicted a crushing defeat on the BJP, where it had to settle for only three seats in a 70-member assembly.
It is also the principal opposition party in the Punjab assembly, where it has 22 legislators and four Lok Sabha members. Apart from seven Delhi Lok Sabha election 2019 seats, the party will test waters in Lok Sabha elections 2019 independently on all seats in Punjab, Haryana and Goa.
After the party’s National Council meeting in December last year, senior leaders were not averse to becoming a part of the ‘grand alliance’ with an aim of removing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP government at the Centre. However, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has made it clear that despite repeated rebuffs from the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) remains keen on a pre-election alliance with it for the Delhi Lok Sabha election 2019. At a rally near Jama Masjid on Wednesday, Kejriwal said, “We are tired of asking the Congress to do a deal with us,” and expressed frustration that the Congress had not responded.
In Lok Sabha elections 2014, when the three parties contested the elections separately, the vote shares of the Congress and the AAP added up to almost 49% of the total — more than the 45% vote that the BJP got.
The votes of the candidates of the AAP and Congress added up to more than that of the BJP candidate in six seats out of seven, the only exception being West Delhi, where Parvesh Sahib Singh, the son of former Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, polled more votes than the Congress’s Mahabal Mishra and the AAP’s Jarnail Singh put together. Thus, the AAP-Congress alliance has the potential to alter the Delhi Lok Sabha election 2019 result.
According to the various Delhi Lok Sabha election 2019 opinion polls, the BJP is likely to retain five of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the capital, if no alliance is formed on either side. However, AAP-Congress alliance can prove to be a game changer. By forming an alliance, the two parties can consolidate the anti-BJP votes. The alliance can pull five to six seats from the capital.
Heading down the road to the Lok Sabha elections alone, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on February 21 announced that if the AAP wins all seven seats, his party will ensure that Delhi gets full statehood status within two years. Addressing a public rally here, Kejriwal said he will provide pucca house to every citizen of the national capital if Delhi attains full statehood.
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